Aomine's Fall
by racerabbit
Summary: Playing basketball one sunny Sunday afternoon, Aomine aims too high and falls. The story of how, after his fall, Aomine deals with a fractured spine and the possibility of never being able to play basketball ever again. In his moments of weakness, who will be there for him?
1. The Accident

Aomine's Fall

(Story takes place post Winter Cup - inspired by DeafAU! Aomine fic)

Chapter 1: The Accident

It was an ordinary Sunday (meaning no practice), and Aomine Daiki, former power forward of Teiko middle school and current Ace of Touou Gakuen, was doing what he did best in this world; street basket. Not wanting to waste a sunny day, he had quickly gotten dressed that morning, putting on casual basket clothes with an arm sleeve for extra flare and sped down to the local basketball court. Unfortunately, as it was a Sunday, no players were present that early. Impatient as usual when it came to the sport, he played alone for a while until there were enough players assembled for him to quickly convince into playing a three-on-three match. After one match, it evolved into a best of 3, then best of 5. Some were experienced adult players and while they were no match compared to the Generation of Miracles or Kagami, it was enough for him to work up a sweat and actually have some fun.

High-fiving one of the players on his team after a successful shot, Aomine ran off court to the benches. "Just grabbing some water," Aomine called behind his back, digging out the bottle, and they nodded and kept playing. The sun was high in the sky now; as the street player lifted his head to the sky, he shielded his face with his hand and thought "_This sort of thing isn't half bad. This might actually become fun again. Now that I know Tetsu and the others can provide some real challenge, playing around with these guys doesn't seem so boring anymore. I had forgotten what it meant to play for fun. To feel the warmth of the ball…"_

As the blue haired teen drifted off in thought, he caught sight of the orange ball whizzing through the air in his direction, shielding the sun for a split-second before it sped forwards in its path. Not wasting an opportunity – "I got it!" he cried and ran after it. Through the opening in the gate of the court he ran and saw its trajectory about to fly into the road. Wanting to impress, he knew he could make it, Aomine jumped off from the ground, onto the street railing, and pushed off hard, stretching out his arm as he did so. For a moment, he was flying, and everything was right in the world while he caught the ball. Smiling, he could feel his horizontal jump-shot coming up as he began to descend. Something prickled his ears though, something about 'dangerous' and 'look out', but they were just distant voices, far away from his euphoria in the sky. He flicked the ball with his wrist and it flew sailing. Then, Aomine blinked, wanting to catch a glimpse of the beautiful clouds before setting his body straight for landing. However, that never came. Instead he blinked and found himself looking at red.

Like a flashing light, everything came all at once. The pain in his back, the shock of an impact being slammed right into him and the crash of hard cement underneath him. No time to think, no time to breathe, Aomine felt his body smash and roll onto the ground before it stopped moving as his still outstretched arm rammed into something.

Finally, the sensations and the senses of his body kicked in. A loud ringing was pulsating in his ears and Aomine saw large red spots blink across his vision as he tried to open his eyes. All sensations flew into an overdrive and it all at once became too much for the brain to register. Faintly, he could smell gasoline and the scent of burnt rubber. Realizing those two elements did not mix well together, the tanned teen had enough sense left in him to react. Slowly, military-style, he crawled to what looked like shade and the netting of the court he had just played at. His legs quickly protested when he tried to move them to help in the process; shooting a bolt of pain to his entire body, through his spine and into his head. He grimaced and used only the strength of his arms and upper body to move the couple of feet required to get to the wall of the netting, before every bone in his body suddenly gave out to immediately draining fatigue. Somehow, he managed to move his head forwards, his eyes slowly giving way to a blurry vision. Vaguely, he could make out his right arm in front of him, dipped in something red. He could also see his own flesh, ripped open at the elbow through the arm sleeve he wore. While he looked at his now bloodied excuse of a shooting arm, only one thought occurred to him at that time.

"_Huh, what a shame. I liked that arm sleeve…"_

Aomine blinked a couple of more times and his sight returned to almost normal. Almost at the same time the ringing in his ears began to fade, but still blocking off comprehensible hearing capabilities. He could hear a lot of shouting now. In the distance, he could spot several running figures, racing towards him. He found this rather odd. _"Strange…"_he thought_, "why are they running as if my life depended on it?"_

Then, finally, _finally_- the pain kicked in! It split his head open and Aomine let out a gutting scream. Coursing through his body, through every single cell he could feel, he felt pure, unadulterated, agony. Throbbing at his head, his vision became blurry with red again, but this time, he realized, because of the blood that was running from his forehead wound into his eyes. His back was the worst hit, he could feel it- any slight movement, any at all, sent a rampage of hurt to his very core, leaving after-shocks so powerful he wished he could just faint on the spot. His legs, which he had previously had believed to be merely bruised, were clearly fractured, or worse. Only his left arm appeared somewhat intact, and he clasped it onto his head, hopefully covering the wound as he let out another yell.

He couldn't believe this just happened. What just happened? He had just been shooting a shot…glancing to his right, he saw a bright red car, parked in the middle of the road. Its front-facing window was completely crushed, and part of its hood had been damaged too. Eventually, Aomine put two and two together, and the basketball player's eyes widened in shock and horror. _"That…that hit me! It ran into me…no, I landed on it…"_ It hurt to think and instead focused his attention on something closer instead. He felt like if he didn't focus on _something_ he would pass out any second. Several figures had surrounded him- calling out his name, shouting things. Someone put a soft object on his head, gently lifting his arm away from his skull. Not having the strength to resist the arms attempting to move him from the position he was in on the ground, the last thing he could coherently comprehend was a bright blue flashing light from a white van stationed right where he had just been, before letting the darkness take his consciousness.


	2. The News

Chapter 2: The News

The night was all around him, but he couldn't feel it. Aomine took in his surroundings- everything was dark, in every direction he looked. He called out, but there was no answer. He looked around again and caught sight of a flash of orange in the corner of his eye. As his body followed his head, Aomine spotted a basketball in the distance, lit up by its own aura, in the empty abyss. As Aomine began running towards it, it rolled away, still as bright as ever. Annoyed now, the tanned male ran harder and harder. For how long he chased the ball, he did not know, and time begun to loose meaning. As soon as the thought 'maybe it doesn't matter if I reach it' crossed his mind, the ball slowed down and he was able to grasp it. Then, a hoop appeared out of thin air, a spotlight from above, signalling a clear and obvious objective. With practiced ease, he shot the ball perfectly in the air, but, before he could see the ball make the shot-

His eyes flew open - head going into overdrive, reality ripping him away from sleep. He blinked, and saw a contrasting white; jarring to his eyes and glaring light from all corners of his vision. Looking at the ceiling, he realized the light must be coming from a window and an open door on either side of him. Hearing a periodic beeping to his side, he looked left and spotted a heart-rate monitor, _"the type that…oh no."_ He had been landed in a hospital. He _hated_ hospitals.

It wasn't for the normal reason; the white-washed walls and the cleanliness, no. It was what they meant – that there was something wrong with you that needed fixing. Going to the hospital meant being locked up. Going to the hospital meant staying put in bed, _not _doing basketball. He didn't like that. He didn't like that at all. The teen tried to get up, but noticed that he could not- he was in bed and physically strapped down from the waist with brown, leather straps that kept him in place- the type they had at mental institutes. His upper-body was at a roughly 130 degree angle, roughly sitting up but still allowing for a resting position. "_The hell was going on?" _he thought. When he tried to move his right hand he was not surprised to find it had been put into a cast. He still remembered what happened after all.

As the pounding from his head subsided Aomine gained a wider perspective of his surroundings and noticed a shock of pink hair to his right. Momoi was lying on his bed, with her face in between her crossed arms as she slept peacefully by his side. He looked at her resting figure and impulsively felt the urge to reach over and touch her, to get her attention. While even his arms were strapped down he was able to slowly stretch his hand towards her, grasping at the bed sheet to get closer. "S...s...Satsuki?" he breathed as he felt he was too weak to utter many words at once. Reaching her fingers, which were draped right by him, he gently began to rub her hand with his own. The action, if not a little out of character, felt comforting and Aomine continued to do so until the pink haired girl began to stir from the motion. As she flickered her eyelids open, Aomine had his own eyes trained on her, not wanting to take them off her.  
"H-hey,"  
"Dai-chan! You're awake!" Momoi exclaimed as she snapped her head up, strongly resisting the urge to hug her beloved ganguro.

"Well yeah, why wouldn't I be?"  
"Dai-chan…" Momoi looked at her childhood friend sadly "-you've been asleep for two days straight. It's Tuesday morning now."

"Wow! I must have fallen pretty bad…"

"…and that's not all of it, Aomine-kun" a familiar voice spoke from the end of the room. Discovering that Kuroko, the phantom player was also in the room, shocked him and his heart rate monitor suddenly began to beep rather annoyingly.

"Tetsu! You're here too!" Relief flooded through him as he realized his old best friend was by his side too. Kuroko simply nodded, but a small smile was on his lips nonetheless, happy to see his old light in the waking world. For two days, since Momoi had found out the news, she and the Seirin shadow had stood vigil over the sleeping Aomine. It was good that the two of them were there together; the knowledge of another soul just as concerned made the long hours of waiting more bearable.

Soon after, a doctor and a couple of nurses entered the room. The doctor could easily be mistaken for Midorima's father, with the same features but with a more mature appearance, and raven hair. Noticing Aomine was alright, just slightly alarmed, he decided to begin the introductions.

"Good morning Aomine-san. I am Dr. Iisha, I will be your head doctor here. Keeping track of your progress during your stay."

"Heh, what exactly do you mean by my _'stay'_ here? I just got a couple of injuries right? I don't need to frickin' _stay_ here and get healed!" the bluenette exclaimed. He sure as all hell was not staying in a hospital, no matter how good it was. He would rather disobey a direct order and face Akashi's wrath for threatening his 'absolute' status.

Dr. Iisha blinked once, before quickly pushing up his glasses to the bridge of his nose and scribbling something on his clipboard. "As obnoxious as described I see…" About to make a retort, Momoi quickly stepped in before Aomine could say any more rude things. "-Please Doctor, he really is just very bad at showing gratitude. Once you get to know him he has his kind points too!" the pink-haired girl defended her Ace with a smile.

Dr. Iisha sighed to himself and spoke in a quiet tone "I have a feeling these next few months are going to be very unpleasant, for both him and myself…"

"Oi, butt out Satsuki! I'm not feeling specially hurt or injured right now, so I don't-"He froze mid-sentence, disbelief and shock reregistering on his face before becoming inflamed with rage. "Wait…what did you just say? Next. Few. _Months_?! _What the f-"_

"-Aomine-kun." An abrupt voice interjected. Aomine turned irritably to Kuroko, having forgotten he was in the room for a second. He also remembered his old partner strongly disliked profanity. "What is it Testu?" came the irritated response.

Looking at him with a blank but stern expression, Kuroko walked to the left of Aomine's bedside, by a previously neglected IV drip and continued. "You see this Aomine-kun? This- is an IV drip, and this bag is currently injecting you with enough morphine and pain-killing substances to make you eat Momoi-san's cooking with a smile. You are being drugged out of your mind as we speak, just so that you won't faint from the pain." As he finished speaking the small shadow looked around the room before making certain he could continue with the final verdict of his old partner's situation. "The bottom line is, Aomine-kun, you've been hurt in many different places and it _will_ take a long time for you to get healed….your most serious injury is your fractured spine when you fell and…we're not so sure you should be moving…or even if you can for that matter."

Aomine sat staring at Kuroko after his explanation. Nothing was coming to his mind except "This has to be some kind of joke right? You-you can't be serious!?" Looking around the room to the different faces, he saw they all wore the same expression – pity mixed with sadness and hesitation to look into his eyes, unable to bring any good news to the situation. Momoi was playing with her hair, darting with her eyes in any direction but his. The doctor was looking at his clipboard with vested interest, the nurses were fidgeting with whatever they could, and Kuroko had his arms around his shoulders, shoulders slumped down, looking at the ground with such remorsefulness the basketball player has no choice than to consume to his words, letting his outcry fall on deaf ears. Aomine's perplexed face soon turned to despair. He tried to form words, but none came out. It was as if his brain had decided his mouth would stop functioning at that very moment, because it was too occupied with comprehending the full impact of what this could mean for him. For his life. His future.

His tongue felt swollen, it was hard to swallow but managed to utter "M-my s-spine?" He could never remember having stuttered in all of his life, but now was the first time for everything.

Dr. Iisha quickly became animated again after the pained silence and cleared his throat. "Yes well…before I was interrupted I was saying, you will mainly be here due to a spinal cord fracture caused by your fall. This we believe was due to the trauma you received. Your type of fracture is what we call a Flexion Fracture Pattern; more specifically an Axial Burst Fracture. These fractures are typically caused by high-velocity accidents, such as a car crash or a fall from a height. In your case…I suppose it could be considered both."

Aomine stopped paying attention. He realized this was important information, but at the same time he couldn't take any of it in. What had he been thinking? Why had been such an idiot!? Such a show-off! Now he was paying just that price. Staring out into nothing, he didn't want to think of anything and just simply forget. At that very moment, he wasn't actually conscious of the comfort that he would need, but nonetheless felt a warmth by his hand again, and looking down noticed Satsuki. Still by his side she had gently reached for him, brushing past the back of his hand with her fingertips, lightly stroking up and down the exposed skin visible underneath the cast. Still not focusing on anything, his own fingers reflexively grasped hers and held her steadily by him; just something to hold onto that he knew wouldn't break.

"…the primary symptom of which is moderate to severe back pain that is made worse by movement, hence the reason we have you strapped down like this."

The ace could feel himself numbly nod and with that the doctor and nurses all took their leave, clearing out of the room, which suddenly became very big, too bright and silent.

"Breathe, Dai-chan,"

Without realizing it he had been holding his breath, forgetting to breathe while attempting to forget everything else. Quickly, he let out a slow breath, feeling his shoulders relax, although his mind was now fully awake. With nothing else to do, he turned his attention to the two other residents in the vicinity.

"So…how long do you think I'll be strapped down like this?" he asked, gesturing to the brown straps by attempting to move his arms. His legs he still didn't even want to attempt.

"Not for very long, two days at the most I would guess. You would still be confided to your bed, but keeping your limbs this locked up is not good no matter how badly you are injured." Aomine nodded again. Kuroko and Momoi looked at each other and exchanged glances, then speaking without words, both returned their gazes on the boy in the bed, the one they both cared about the most.

No one spoke. Neither of them dared. Words began to lose their meaning once again, just like they had been when they first entered the hospital two days ago- scared and terrified out of their mind for the idiot who had been hurt so bad. Aomine returned to his forgetful staring contest with the sheets of his new bed. Emptiness began to fill his mind and body, like a little demon in his head who had just moved in and was there to stay. Never to leave him again.

A/N: I hope you like! If anyone takes Japanese, I'm sure you will understand why I named the Doctor 'Isha' (yes I am very poor with OC names, and I am sorry). Just FYI- I have no medical knowledge what so ever! I simply googled and found what I think is the appropriate injury to what he would have received if it actually did happen. For those who are wondering, I still haven't decided if I should ship Aomine with Kuroko or Momoi. To be honest I like him with both, but I can swing either way for this fic and I have a few scenes in mind for each. Who should I pick? :3 Leave a comment!


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